Not too long after they brought their third generation ‘Super TVs’ to Indian shores, LeEco have followed up with their fourth-generation models. While the last time we sampled the massive 65-inch behemoth from the line-up, this time we have with us the bread-and-butter 40-incher – the Super4 X40.
On the build front, the Chinese manufacturer has delivered again, with the TV boasting slim bezels and a svelte profile, making it suitable for most small apartments or a gaming set-up that requires some extra real estate. The screen on this one is a FullHD 1080p affair, while the higher-end X43 Pro gets a 4K panel.
All the necessary inputs are accounted for, with the X40 featuring two HDMI ports (one of which is MHL-enabled), and two USB ports, one on the side and one smack on top of the TV, protected by a flap to prevent dust from clogging the upward-facing port.
Moving on to how it performs, the X40 produced some impressive results. Even on stock calibration, the wild colours of Suicide Squad really popped well, while more balanced colour palettes like those presented by The Nice Guys were handled capably as well. We also used the TV to watch a fair bit of anime, and the results were good there too. The black levels were good across all media, with the panel dimming consistently without producing unsightly light spots. There is an obvious soap-opera effect present, which can be mitigated somewhat by tweaking the ‘motion’ option on the rather limited display settings menu. It is something that you get used to, but hardcore movie enthusiasts may find it irritating. We also tried some gaming via HDMI, and the dark environs of Gotham City in Batman: Arkham Knight , were displayed to perfection with negligible latency issues.
Under the hood
Powering all the display goodness are some decent internals. A Cortex A72-based processor with a Mali GPU, 3GB RAM and 16GB inbuilt storage, support for HDR and Dolby audio — which, branding aside, was quite impressive, as we never felt the need to boost its capabilities with a soundbar — and a host of smart features.
The smart tech has been LeEco’s Achilles Heel, and that hasn’t changed with this new generation. The only real advantage the ‘smart’ name brings is the built-in WiFi, as the Android ecosystem on the TV features a small collection of hand-picked apps, which most users are unlikely to find use for. The lack of even streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube (which was present in the third-generation line-up) is really quite glaring.
The TV comes with a YuppTV subscription for streaming some regional channels, but the offered quality is often poor, with the content not doing justice to the panel. LeEco’s Eros-powered LeVidi movie platform failed to get going, simply giving us a ‘coming soon’ message. This might have to do with early-stage pre-release software on our review unit, so we suggest a check up on these points before shelling out the dough and investing in one of these.
Speaking of dough, the X40 is priced at around the ₹43,000 mark on LeEco’s LeMall store and on Amazon, which puts it in interesting territory. While it undercuts Smart TVs from some reputed brands, the smart feature set it provides is quite limiting, and home-grown brands are now offering comparable or better feature sets in this category.
If the smart features are not a problem and panel quality is top priority, this is worth a look, though do bear in mind that LeEco has reportedly downsized a chunk of its India staff, and we do not know what effect this has had (or will have) on the after-sales service.
All things considered, the X40 does present a decent package for the price, and as a well-specced buy for a small apartment or a large second display for the bedroom, it checks most of the boxes.
